You Know Where To Find Me
by CherryCorday
Summary: Set directly after Imzadi II, Deanna comes to the realisation that she has everything she'll ever need.


*My Imzadi Story*

Later, after about a week or so of settling in on the newly commissioned _Enterprise-E_, Deanna Troi sat in her new quarters and thought of decorating possibilities. Most of her belongings had been destroyed along with the _Enterprise-D_, so there would have to be a few minor adjustments. _Easy come, easy go_, she thought morosely. She thought of all the new things she would acquire, lovely little things that just waited for her to purchase them. And then her thoughts drifted to the things she'd lost; most importantly, a small scrap of paper that contained a certain bad poem. Sure, there were other things she would miss, but that one took precedence. She didn't know why.

She thought of Worf, surrounded by people and yet so alone on his new assignment of Deep Space Nine. She hoped he would find someone more suited to him. He was right, after all. They were so opposite. And yet, she thought that there was some sort of genuine...

_I hold you close to me_

connection between them. He really...

_Feel the breath of you, and the nearness of you_

loved her, but he was a Klingon, sworn to keep his honour...

_And remember a time_

_Without you_

"Okay," she pleaded with her sub-conscious. She knew what it was getting at. For all the empathic skills she had, sometimes she forgot to assess her own feelings. Did she really love Worf? She thought she did. Maybe she liked the idea of a little spice in an increasingly dull life. Who knew now? Will Riker had said that he never stopped loving her. And he admitted that he had let her get away. He'd had opportunity after opportunity to have her and he always let it slip by. Yet, he was always there when she needed someone. They each saw other people. It was, in a way, gut wrenching, but at the same time, if that's what made the other happy...

She jumped at the sound of the door chime. It was easily the last thing she was expecting. "Come in," she managed to say between gasps. The door opened and revealed a smiling Will Riker. His hands were behind his back and he was dressed in his favourite civilian clothes: a greyish-green v-neck tunic and a pair of grey loose fitting trousers. The neck line was plunged just below the beginning of his chest hair. He liked that particular tunic because it made him look relaxed and yet somehow sophisticated. All that aside, he knew it drove Deanna wild.

"Hello," he said. "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," she said and smiled back.

He stepped into her quarters and the door slid shut behind him. She, being seated comfortably on the sofa, motioned for him to sit on the chair perpendicular to her. He did so, but in a way that he never revealed what was behind his back. This was slightly disturbing to Deanna.

"So, what have you brought me?" she asked lightly, knowing the gift was not in the least bit harmful to her.

"How do you know it's for you?" he teased.

"I know you better than that."

"Really?" he said, tinged with sarcasm. "Anyway," he said a bit more seriously, "it's something I think you'll recognise." And with that, he brought the present out from behind his back and held it up for her to see that is was...

"The vase I threw at you right before we left Betazed." She looked puzzled. "Will, the last time I saw that vase, it was in shards because I threw it at you." She raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"Mr. Homn is a wonder with glue. I had your mother send it to me." He shook his head and chuckled. "I figured it could be a sort of house warming gift."

She stood up and took it from him. "I have just the place for it." She set it on a shelf, right at eye level. She turned toward him and smiled. "How does it look?"

"It pales in comparison to the woman standing next to it," he said with all the seriousness in the universe.

She coloured slightly as her eyes looked away from him in embarrassment. It was a most unexpected reaction to a most sincere compliment.

"What was that for?" he asked, puzzled.

"He...I mean, Worf...never complimented me like that. Sure, he said some romantic things, but I needed to hear more emotional things, not violent references to love and honour. All we did on Betazed was disagree; about little things, about big things. I don't know how we got along at all."

Will stood up. "I think it would be better if I leave." And he began his way toward the door.

She looked up and stepped between him and the doorway. She ran her hand over his face; from his cheek to his chin, from his chin to his lips. Then she kissed his lips gently where her fingers lingered a second ago. He was surprised, but certainly not disappointed. He enveloped her in his arms and turned an innocent kiss into a passionate, sense swirling, meltingly warm one. As it came to an end, he looked down at her and ruined the moment.

"This isn't right. You just barely broke your engagement off to Worf. And I know you mean well...but...I don't feel right. I don't mean that that didn't feel right, cos it did, but...I don't know what to say. I gotta go..." And with that, he stepped around her and toward the door.

She sighed and said, "Well, that's that. Nobody wants me." And she turned away to go to her bedroom.

He turned very quickly and grabbed her elbow. He turned her to face him and told her, "Deanna, I love you. I've always loved you. And you'd better believe that I want you. I would gladly do anything for you. _Anything_. And that's a promise. But I must be respectful of the relationship you just got out of. So, in all fairness to Worf's memory, I'm going back to my quarters to, as they say, take a cold shower." He kissed her on the cheek and walked out the door.

"I love you," she murmured to the man she loved most in the world, who was out of earshot, but heard what she had said all the same.


End file.
